Skilled immigration Green-card blues A backlash against foreign workers dims business hopes for immigration reform The Economist: October 30, 2010

Oct 28th 2010 | Washington, dc

BAD as relations are between business and the Democrats, immigration was supposed to be an exception. On that topic the two have long had a marriage of convenience, with business backing comprehensive reform in order to obtain more skilled foreign workers.

That, at least, was what was meant to happen. In March Chuck Schumer, a Democratic senator, and Lindsey Graham, a Republican, proposed a multi-faceted reform that would toughen border controls and create a path to citizenship for illegal immigrants while granting two longstanding goals of business: automatic green cards (that is, permanent residence) for students who earned advanced degrees in science, technology, engineering or maths in America, and an elimination of country quotas on green cards. The quotas bear no relationship to demand, leaving backlogs of eight to ten years for applicants from China and India. Barack Obama immediately announced his support.

But the proposal never became a bill, much less law. Mr Graham developed cold feet and withdrew his support; he was concerned that the Democrats were moving too quickly, as the economic misery that has turned Americans against foreign trade spread to dislike of foreign workers. Last year Congress made it harder for banks that had received money from the Troubled Asset Relief Programme to hire workers on H-1B visas, the most popular type for skilled foreign workers. In January the Citizenship and Immigration Service barred the use of H-1Bs for workers based on a client�s premises instead of their own company�s, a move aimed at outsourcing companies, many of them based in India.

In August even Mr Schumer, needing to look tough on outsourcing, pushed through a bill sharply raising H-1B fees on firms that depend heavily on the visas. Perhaps the most naked election-year hostility to foreigners appeared during the debate in September over a Democratic bill in the Senate that would have rewarded companies for firing foreign-based workers and replacing them with Americans. Charles Grassley, a Republican senator, responded with a proposal to prohibit any company that had laid off Americans from hiring visa workers at all. The bill did not win enough votes to break a filibuster.

Tightened restrictions, political aggravation and economic conditions seem to be having an effect. In 2009 the number of employment-based green cards and H-1B visas was the lowest in years (see chart). It took an unusually long time for the quota of H-1Bs for the fiscal year that ended on September 30th to be used up. Several Indian outsourcing companies have made a point of boosting local hiring at American facilities.

This is partly the result of the recession, which has hurt demand for all types of workers. But in a recent report the Hamilton Project, a moderately liberal research group, notes that the number of foreign workers in America has been declining for some time. This might reflect America�s diminished appeal to the world�s most sought-after workers, as well as brightening prospects in their own countries. A survey for the pro-immigration Kauffman Foundation in 2007 found that only a tiny proportion of foreign students planned to stay in the United States. This almost certainly extracts an economic toll, since immigrants are more likely than others to start businesses or file patents.

America�s immigration policies have long put a higher priority on family reunification than on employment. Legal immigrants to the country are more likely to have failed to finish high school than either native-born Americans or immigrants to other English-speaking countries. Immigrants to Canada are far more likely to have a college degree.

Legislators from both parties have at various times advanced proposals that would smooth the way for skilled migrants, but they have usually foundered on the more intractable problem of dealing with illegal immigration. �These two issues can and should be separate,� says Michael Greenstone of the Hamilton Project. �We are giving up economic growth by putting the two issues together.�

Democratic Hispanic legislators oppose separating them for fear of losing business support for comprehensive reform. In principle, then, a Republican takeover of the House might increase the likelihood of a stand-alone bill on skilled immigration. That, however, is not the Republicans� priority. Lamar Smith, the Republican who would probably become chairman of the House judiciary committee, is more focused on deporting illegal immigrants and strengthening the border.

Still, it would be premature to write off the odds of immigration reform. If Mr Obama is to accomplish anything in the next Congress, he needs to find common ground with Republicans on something. Business-friendly immigration reform might just qualify.

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sdudeja

01-30 10:14 AM

It is "document production or oath ceremony.

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Rolling_Flood

09-22 09:17 PM

Anyone got a generic response to an I-485 Service Request that "your case is awaiting standard security checks required for everyone who applies for this immigration benefit"?

More importantly, did anyone get an approval for their I-485 after being stuck in such a check?

Wow! Great response for a small web forum. Thanks so much for comments and especially the adjustments.

I can see right away that I will be learning a lot of PhotoShop here. That's great! I can obviously learn a great deal about photography from the DSLR forums, but the Members Critique and the Galleries is what I registered for.

I got my cameras to take pictures of friends and family and to use at work. Most of the pictures I take look like a family driver's license photo album. The picture is bad and the subject is worse. I want to learn to capture the unique events because that is where the beauty is.

First I want to learn to take more pictures. I never seem to have the urge, opportunity and camera all in the same place at the same time. Is it as simple as always having my camera at the ready? How do you get people to accept your taking a picture of them without disturbing the event?

I also would like to learn what to take pictures of. I am obviously limited by the capabilities of my Cybershot and circular polarizer. What kinds of photographs, subjects and conditions should I concentrate on so that I can take pictures I will be pleased with?

Then I would like to learn to take pictures of the things that I see and think are interesting. Since I live in Houston that means cityscapes, nature and weather, and interesting people. I especially like people engaged in ordinary activity but with profound contrast of background or setting. Given a limitation of what can be carried on a bicycle or foot (and a reasonable budget,) what kind of camera and accessories would a professional photographer use to take these kinds of pictures?

One more picture...:D http://www.dphoto.us/forumphotos/data/783/1003Gandview9-med.JPG

Thank You IV core group for the great work you guys are doing. We are always with you and we support you.

Thank you so much once again!!

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venky08

11-02 11:17 PM

time is running out...looks like they will keep on playing this game till the elections...unless the media kicks in and starts painting the negative picture about the plight of employment based immigration. currently its only is dominant in newspapers etc. the visual media is still dominated by likes of Dobbs.

one thing what we can do is start writing emails to the ombudsman cisombudsman@dhs.gov

i think everybody shall start telling their stories and give the ombudsman a bulleted list about what needs to happen to fix the broken system...just a thought...it may have a chance of better visibility.

i may be too naive but nevertheless why miss the opportunity to spread the word around...

For a change, your employer sounds like a big time Joker.. ask him/her to take a break and be a joker on the road..

First and far most.. If your employer is really sending a cancellation letter to USCIS for your H1, he is trying to rub his own Ya$$.. the ultimate loser is not YOU, but He/She and his company.. No employer with brain will send an official cancellation letter.. On the other hand, you are still on H4 status and directly getting on to EAD, so, you never used the so called H1, which means, if he messes up with you, you will be intact. Also your employer can not do anything for your husband as well for his 485 processing etc, again at 485 stage, your hubb's employer dont need to do anything other then your hubb is on payroll for 180 days from the receipt date of 485.

In a genral when your employer contacts you again, tell him to have fun in Honolulu :P no worries...

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ivgclive

10-08 12:45 PM

1. How can he use the PIO card to enter and exit India? I got PIO Cards recently, but not entered India yet. So far I used only visas.

a. Does he simply show the PIO card, US passport to enter and exit India? I assumed the same. It is just like a "Visa", but not on the passport but as a separate booklet.

2. Incase if the PIO card processing takes a lot of time I know that he can apply for visa. I was wondering anyone has experience on how visa could be applied if PIO processing takes a long time at the SFO consulate. It is efficient and less expensive on money and time if you decide before you apply. If you have couple of months time before travel, apply PIO or you have only couple of weeks appy for Visa.

a. Do they return the PIO application and its supporting documents before visa could be applied? You are probably submiting copies of documents except the passports +/- birth certificate. Be prepared if you just receive passports only.

b. Should a new visa application+visa supporting documents need to be resent for getting a Indian visa? I guess so, as the process is completely different.

------------------------------------

There are no guidelines on web sites for the option you are asking for. So the answers are only "what you can expect".

You should contact your lawyer & ask USCIS to amend your H1 for 3 years instead of 1 year. One time My H1B got approved but USCIS forgot to add up vacation time then My Lawyer contacted USCIS officer to amed that time. Later got new H1B approval with correct date. I think that will give clear idea if USCIS not finding you I140?

My concern is during the H1 Extension process USCIS have touched all my files (485/EAD/AP) but not I-140.

I have put all my WAC/SRC numbers on USCIS website, I could see the LUD date changed against all files except for I-140. which apparently have a different A#.

I m worried, if USCIS would come up sometime in future n say they dont see my I-140 file.

its the same co. which filed my I-140 & I-485.

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shana04

08-09 12:55 PM

1. How do you know that we are not approving 2004 cases? Just that you didn't got your approval doesn't mean that we are not approving 2004 cases.

2. There are not that many 2004 cases, so we are approving 2005 and 2006 cases.

3. We divided cases into 3 boxes : 2004, 2005, 2006. It must be a case that IO's assigned to 2006 are working faster and efficiently.

4. We received so many 2006 I-485 applications on 07/02/2007. We are just processing by Receive Date.

5. We made a policy to approve I-485 cases bases on I-140 approval dates. Since we have many cases with old I-140 approval cases that happened to be with earlier priority dates, we are approving them now.

6. There are so many FBI name check hits on 2004 cases. All name hits will be processed later.

7. Oops... we sorted all cases that can be approved, by descending order. Sorry!

8. Time and again we want to approve that we can do anything we want.

9. All EB2 perm cases are really frustrated EB3 cases that have an older EB3 priority dates. We just wanted to be fair to them.

10. Yikes! Dog ate all 2004 cases.

11. Ding, these 2003, 2004 and Early 2005 boxes are under these 2006 boxes that we are too lazy to pick them up.

1. How do you know that we are not approving 2004 cases? Just that you didn't got your approval doesn't mean that we are not approving 2004 cases.

2. There are not that many 2004 cases, so we are approving 2005 and 2006 cases.

3. We divided cases into 3 boxes : 2004, 2005, 2006. It must be a case that IO's assigned to 2006 are working faster and efficiently.

4. We received so many 2006 I-485 applications on 07/02/2007. We are just processing by Receive Date.

5. We made a policy to approve I-485 cases bases on I-140 approval dates. Since we have many cases with old I-140 approval cases that happened to be with earlier priority dates, we are approving them now.

6. There are so many FBI name check hits on 2004 cases. All name hits will be processed later.

7. Oops... we sorted all cases that can be approved, by descending order. Sorry!

8. Time and again we want to approve that we can do anything we want.

9. All EB2 perm cases are really frustrated EB3 cases that have an older EB3 priority dates. We just wanted to be fair to them.

10. Yikes! Dog ate all 2004 cases.

11. Ding, these 2003, 2004 and Early 2005 boxes are under these 2006 boxes that we are too lazy to pick them up.

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sina

08-15 09:56 AM

If you belong to India then it depends on the state of residense. You can go to other consulates if you are a returning H1B, meaning this is not your first H1 stamping. For first time stamps they require one to go the consulate of the region they belong to.

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masti_Gai

03-09 01:10 PM

If they are paying u for the 5 month gap, its not termination you are still on their pay rolls so u will have no problem coz u are gettin pay check for the 5 months. No need for LOA too if you have pay stubs

kaisersose

05-23 12:31 PM

Hello,

I filed my 485/EAD/AP last year and recently changed my address. Besides filing an AR11, what are the other steps I need to do? Should I be calling USCIS to make sure the new address gets reflected on my 485 application?

Thanks, Kunal

Yes or you can do it online too. It takes a while for the change to reflect, but you will know when it happens as you will receive an update through email and usually also a confirmation letter from CIS.

freddy22

04-24 09:25 PM

thanks for your help it was hardly worth pressing the keys to let me know the word drr is used by people....yawn